Boy, 2, dies after Gush Etzion drowning incident in private pool

A 2-year-old boy has died after being seriously hurt in a near-drowning incident in a private pool on Thursday.

The boy, named by Hebrew media as Yosef Hananel Lev, is declared dead at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital after being rescued from the pool in the West Bank settlement of Metzad, in the Gush Etzion region.

His funeral will be held at 4 p.m. in Jerusalem.

נפטר הפעוט יוסף חננאל לב שטבע ביישוב מיצד

יוסף חננאל לב, שטבע בסוף השבוע בבריכה במיצד במועצה האזורית גוש עציון – נפטר בבית החולים. הלוויתו תתקיים היום בשעה 16:00 אחה"צhttps://t.co/ZSlCty4v7w pic.twitter.com/oYvUmxmnBh

— המחדש (@hamechadesh) August 28, 2022

The past few months have seen a spate of deadly drownings, many at private pools or unsupervised beaches without a lifeguard while Israelis vacation during the summer break.

Last Thursday, a baby boy was declared dead a day after he was rescued from a near-drowning at a pool in Safed. Ultra-Orthodox media outlets identified the 1-year-old child as Yonatan Deutch, the son of Yehoshua Deutch, a member of the local council of Kiryat Ye’arim (Telz Stone) outside of Jerusalem.

Last month, a 5-year-old boy from Umm al-Fahm was declared dead after a drowning incident at the Nahal Kibbutzim stream near Beit She’an. An 18-year-old girl and her father drowned the same day.

According to figures released last week by the Magen David Adom ambulance service, 31 people in Israel died so far in drowning incidents this summer, out of close to 200 who had been treated for such injuries.